BROOCH

An incomplete copper alloy and enamel plate brooch, a chatelaine, dating to the Roman period c AD100-200.

The brooch is sub triangular in form. The plate has a straight base with two curved sides which meet at a knop at the apex. Extending from the two sides of the brooch are three further, smaller knops, originally two on each side but one has broken away at an early date. At either end of the base is a foot like knop which originally would have held a bar on which small implements, tweezers, toothpick, etc, would have hung. A more complete example can be seen in Hattatt 2000, page 351, fig 210, number 603 which is very similar to this item.

At the centre of the plate is a conical boss which terminates in a small, spherical knop. Around this knop is a sextfoil motif, petal shaped cells inlaid with blue enamel. The alternating sub triangular cells between each petal contain dark coloured enamel which may be black or indigo. A deep circular groove surrounds the conical boss and may also, originally, have contained enamel but there is none extant. Around the groove is a further semi-circle of eleven petal like cells filled with blue enamel. Echoing the decoration on the boss, the intervening sub triangular cells are filled with dark enamel. Running parallel to the bottom edge of the brooch is a panel made up of eight of the blue enamel petal shape cells with the darker coloured cells between. Of the outer knops, apart from the larger one at the apex of the plate, all are corroded, but one shows a small amount of the blue enamel which suggests each might have been decorated in this way. The larger knop is flat and circular (now with a little to damage to one part of the edge) and is decorated with a four petal flower like motif, with the blue enamel within and the darker enamel surrounding it.

The underside of the brooch is slightly concave. A semi-circular lug, the remains of the catchplate, projects from behind the knop at the top with a double lug hinge opposite, at the base of the brooch. The corroded remains of the pin can be seen within the piercings in the lugs. In recent times some plyable substance has been placed firmly onto the back of the brooch, apparently to hold the top part of the brooch to the rest of the plate as there are two cracks visible from the front of the plate, extending from the outer edge of the plate to the central circular groove which surrounds the central boss. The brooch is 46.40mm in height, 43.28mm wide and 11.87mm thick (including the protruding boss). It weighs 18.89g.

It is suggested that these brooches may have been given to girls as coming-of-age gifts. There are similar exmples on the database , see DUR-CD4AC5.